The Lesser Bourgeoisie, Honore de Balzac [good book recommendations .TXT] 📗

Phellion. "Celeste is, indeed, an

angel of sweetness."

 

"As for monsieur Felix, I venture to interest myself because, in the

first place, he is the son of so virtuous a father--"

 

"Oh, madame! I entreat--" said Phellion, bowing again.

 

"--and he also attracts me by the awkwardness of true love, which

appears in all his actions and all his words. We mature women find an

inexpressible charm in seeing the tender passion under a form which

threatens us with no deceptions and no misunderstandings."

 

"My son is certainly not brilliant," said Madame Phellion, with a

faint tone of sharpness; "he is not a fashionable young man."

 

"But he has the qualities that are most essential," replied the

countess, "and a merit which ignores itself,--a thing of the utmost

consequence in all intellectual superiority--"

 

"Really, madame," said Phellion, "you force us to hear things that--"

 

"That are not beyond the truth," interrupted the countess. "Another

reason which leads me to take a deep interest in the happiness of

these young people is that I am not so desirous for that of Monsieur

Theodose de la Peyrade, who is false and grasping. On the ruin of

their hopes that man is counting to carry out his swindling purposes."

 

"It is quite certain," said Phellion, "that there are dark depths in

Monsieur de la Peyrade where light does not penetrate."

 

"And as I myself had the misfortune to marry a man of his description,

the thought of the wretchedness to which Celeste would be condemned by

so fatal a connection, impels me, in the hope of saving her, to the

charitable effort which now, I trust, has ceased to surprise you."

 

"Madame," said Phellion, "we do not need the conclusive explanations

by which you illumine your conduct; but as to the faults on our part,

which have thwarted your generous efforts, I must declare that in

order to avoid committing them in future, it seems to me not a little

desirable that you should plainly indicate them."

 

"How long is it," asked the countess, "since any of your family have

paid a visit to the Thuilliers'?"

 

"If my memory serves me," said Phellion, "I think we were all there

the Sunday after the dinner for the house-warming."

 

"Fifteen whole days of absence!" exclaimed the countess; "and you

think that nothing of importance could happen in fifteen days?"

 

"No, indeed! did not three glorious days in July, 1830, cast down a

perjured dynasty and found the noble order of things under which we

now live?"

 

"You see it yourself!" said the countess. "Now, tell me, during that

evening, fifteen days ago, did nothing serious take place between your

son and Celeste?"

 

"Something did occur," replied Phellion,--"a very disagreeable

conversation on the subject of my son's religious opinions; it must be

owned that our good Celeste, who in all other respects has a charming

nature, is a trifle fanatic in the matter of piety."

 

"I agree to that," said the countess; "but she was brought up by the

mother whom you know; she was never shown the face of true piety; she

saw only the mimicry of it. Repentant Magdalens of the Madame

Colleville species always assume an air of wishing to retire to a

desert with their death's-head and crossed bones. They think they

can't get salvation at a cheaper rate. But after all, what did Celeste

ask of Monsieur Felix? Merely that he would read 'The Imitation of

Christ.'"

 

"He has read it, madame," said Phellion, "and he thinks it a book

extremely well written; but his convictions--and that is a misfortune

--have not been affected by the perusal."

 

"And do you think he shows much cleverness in not assuring his

mistress of some little change in his inflexible convictions?"

 

"My son, madame, has never received from me the slightest lesson in

cleverness; loyalty, uprightness, those are the principles I have

endeavored to inculcate in him."

 

"It seems to me, monsieur, that there is no want of loyalty when, in

dealing with a troubled mind, we endeavor to avoid wounding it. But

let us agree that Monsieur Felix owed it to himself to be that iron

door against which poor Celeste's applications beat in vain; was that

a reason for keeping away from her and sulking in his tent for fifteen

whole days? Above all, ought he to have capped these sulks by a

proceeding which I can't forgive, and which--only just made known to

us--has struck the girl's heart with despair, and also with a feeling

of extreme irritation?"

 

"My son capable of any such act! it is quite impossible, madame!"

cried Phellion. "I know nothing of this proceeding; but I do not

hesitate to affirm that you have been ill-informed."

 

"And yet, nothing is more certain. Young Colleville, who came home

to-day for his half-holiday, has just told us that Monsieur Felix, who

had previously gone with the utmost punctuality to hear him recite has

ceased entirely to have anything to do with him. Unless your son is

ill, I do not hesitate to say that this neglect is the greatest of

blunders, in the situation in which he now stands with the sister he

ought not to have chosen this moment to put an end to these lessons."

 

The Phellions looked at each other as if consulting how to reply.

 

"My son," said Madame Phellion, "is not exactly ill; but since you

mention a fact which is, I acknowledge, very strange and quite out of

keeping with his nature and habits, I think it right to tell you that

from the day when Celeste seemed to signify that all was at an end

between them, a very extraordinary change has come over Felix, which

is causing Monsieur Phellion and myself the deepest anxiety."

 

"Yes, madame," said Phellion, "the young man is certainly not in his

normal condition."

 

"But what is the matter with him?" asked the countess, anxiously.

 

"The night of that scene with Celeste," replied Phellion, "after his

return home, he wept a flood of hot tears on his mother's bosom, and

gave us to understand that the happiness of his whole life was at an

end."

 

"And yet," said Madame de Godollo, "nothing very serious happened; but

lovers always make the worst of things."

 

"No doubt," said Madame Phellion; "but since that night Felix has not

made the slightest allusion to his misfortune, and the next day he

went back to his work with a sort of frenzy. Does that seem natural to

you?"

 

"It is capable of explanation; work is said to be a great consoler."

 

"That is most true," said Phellion; "but in Felix's whole personality

there is something excited, and yet repressed, which is difficult to

describe. You speak to him, and he hardly seems to hear you; he sits

down to table and forgets to eat, or takes his food with an

absent-mindedness which the medical faculty consider most injurious to

the process of digestion; his duties, his regular occupations, we have

to remind him of--him, so extremely regular, so punctual! The other

day, when he was at the Observatory, where he now spends all his

evenings, only coming home in the small hours, I took it upon myself

to enter his room and examine his papers. I was terrified, madame, at

finding a paper covered with algebraic calculations which, by their

vast extent appeared to me to go beyond the limits of the human

intellect."

 

"Perhaps," said the countess, "he is on the road to some great

discovery."

 

"Or to madness," said Madame Phellion, in a low voice, and with a

heavy sigh.

 

"That is not probable," said Madame de Godollo; "with an organization

so calm and a mind so well balanced, he runs but little danger of that

misfortune. I know myself of another danger that threatens him

to-morrow, and unless we can take some steps this evening to avert it,

Celeste is positively lost to him."

 

"How so?" said the husband and wife together.

 

"Perhaps you are not aware," replied the countess, "that Thuillier and

his sister have made certain promises to Monsieur de la Peyrade about

Celeste?"

 

"We suspected as much," replied Madame Phellion.

 

"The fulfilment of these pledges was postponed to a rather distant

period, and subordinated to certain conditions. Monsieur de la

Peyrade, after enabling them to buy the house near the Madeleine,

pledged himself not only to obtain the cross for Monsieur Thuillier,

but to write in his name a political pamphlet, and assist him in his

election to the Chamber of Deputies. It sounds like the romances of

chivalry, in which the hero, before obtaining the hand of the

princess, is compelled to exterminate a dragon."

 

"Madame is very witty," said Madame Phellion, looking at her husband,

who made her a sign not to interrupt.

 

"I have no time now," said the countess; "in fact it would be useless

to tell you the manoeuvres by which Monsieur de la Peyrade has

contrived to hasten the period of this marriage; but it concerns you

to know that, thanks to his duplicity, Celeste is being forced to

choose between him and Monsieur Felix; fifteen days were given her in

which to make her choice; the time expires to-morrow, and, thanks to

the unfortunate state of feeling into which your son's attitude has

thrown her, there is very serious danger of seeing her sacrifice to

her wounded feelings the better sentiments of her love and her

instincts."

 

"But what can be done to prevent it?" asked Phellion.

 

"Fight, monsieur; come this evening in force to the Thuilliers';

induce Monsieur Felix to accompany you; lecture him until he promises

to be a little more flexible in his philosophical opinions. Paris,

said Henri IV., is surely worth a mass. But let him avoid all such

questions; he can certainly find in his heart the words and tones to

move a woman who loves him; it requires so little to satisfy her! I

shall be there myself, and I will help him to my utmost ability;

perhaps, under the inspiration of the moment, I may think of some way

to do effectually. One thing is very certain: we have to fight a great

battle to-night, and if we do not ALL do our duty valorously, la

Peyrade may win it."

 

"My son is not here, madame," said Phellion, "and I regret it, for

perhaps your generous devotion and urgent words would succeed in

shaking off his torpor; but, at any rate, I will lay before him the

gravity of the situation, and, beyond all doubt, he will accompany us

to-night to the Thuilliers'."

 

"It is needless to say," added the countess, rising, "that we must

carefully avoid the very slightest appearance of collusion; we must

not converse together; in fact, unless it can be done in some casual

way, it would be better not to speak."

 

"I beg you to rely, madame, upon my prudence," replied Phellion, "and

kindly accept the assurance--"

 

"Of your most distinguished sentiments," interrupted the countess,

laughing.

 

"No, madame," replied Phellion, gravely, "I reserve that formula for

the conclusion of my letters; I beg you to accept the assurance of my

warmest and most unalterable gratitude."

 

"We will talk of that when we are out of danger," said Madame de

Godollo, moving towards the door; "and if Madame Phellion, the

tenderest and most virtuous of mothers, will grant me a little place

in her esteem, I shall count myself more than repaid for my trouble."

 

Madame Phellion plunged headlong into a responsive compliment; and the

countess, in her carriage, was at some distance from the house before

Phellion had ceased to offer her his most respectful salutations.

 

As the Latin-quarter element in Brigitte's salon became more rare and

less assiduous, a livelier Paris began to infiltrate it. Among his

colleagues in the municipal council and among the upper employees of

the prefecture of the Seine, the new councillor had made several very

important recruits. The mayor, and the deputy mayors of the

arrondissement, on whom, after his removal to the Madeleine quarter,

Thuillier had called, hastened to return the civility; and the same

thing happened with the superior officers of the first legion. The

house itself had produced a contingent; and several of the new tenants

contributed, by their presence, to change the aspect of the dominical

meetings. Among the number we must mention Rabourdin [see

"Bureaucracy"], the former head of Thuillier's office at the ministry

of finance. Having had the misfortune to lose his wife, whose salon,

at an earlier period, checkmated that of Madame Colleville, Rabourdin

occupied as a bachelor the third floor, above the apartment let to

Cardot, the notary. As the result of an odious slight to his just

claims, Rabourdin had voluntarily resigned his public functions. At

this time, when he again met Thuillier, he was director of one of

those numerous projected railways, the construction of which is always

delayed by either parliamentary rivalry or parliamentary indecision.

Let us say, in passing, that the meeting with this able administrator,

now become an important personage in the financial world, was an

occasion to the worthy and honest Phellion to display once more his

noble character. At the time of the resignation